Durable Goods

"We're always looking for places where we can make the best products," says Max Garbutt, men's merchant at Lands' End—a brand known for their iron-clad satisfaction guarantee. In this case, it was attempting to make stylish, well-fitting sweats and tees in the United States. "There's nothing more iconic than a T-shirt or a sweatshirt, they're two pieces that define menswear in America, this is about celebrating those pieces by bringing them back to the States."Here's how it went down.

The Inspiration

Inspired by those timeless images of guys like JFK and Paul Newman, and based on vintage garments you used to find in family-owned sporting goods stores, the design team at Lands' End's Wisconsin headquarters came up with a few throwback prototypes.

The Cotton

"The first thing we address when introducing a new item into our collection is quality," says Garbutt. "We want to make more products in America by identifying domestic manufacturing facilities that can meet our quality, pricing and environmental standards." Grown in fields throughout Texas, the cotton is then dyed and knit by a third-generation family-run mill in California.

The Final Product

"When sourcing manufactures, our commitment is to offer the best products at the best value and that's not always easy." For Durable Goods, they found a Southern California facility that could meet all their design demands—the kind of vintage details that don't always make for an affordable garment. Cotton neck taping, reinforced seams, ribbed under arm gussets and ringspun cotton that's been washed to feel like there's a few miles on it, but not totally beat up.